What does the term "epileptiforms" actually mean?

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Loopy Lou

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Well, like the title says. Was talking to the doc about this, in relation to my EEG that i had like... last march or something.

But what does it actually mean? I've heard people talk about spikes and waves before. Are these recordings of seizures, or just evidence that points to someone having epileptic activity during the test?

I tried looking it up on google, but my head can't handle a load of medical jargon at the moment lol.
 
When the doc says that your EEG showed "epileptiform" waves, he just means that they were ones characteristic of epilepsy. In particular there are patterns called "spike and dome" that are fairly definitive in terms of an epilepsy diagnosis. Not everyone has them, but when they show up, it's pretty a pretty clear indicator for epilepsy.
 
When I had EEGs in the office, it never really showed much but "driving responce" which means the photosensitive eval portion of the test provoked the driving responce meaning its close to creating a seizure due from light flashes. I didn't have a seizure- unless they just didn't let me know.

During my last EEGs at the hospital, they asked me several times if I felt weird during this part. My eyes went to the right and it probably showed the driving responce again.

Take care
Crystal
 
When the doc says that your EEG showed "epileptiform" waves, he just means that they were ones characteristic of epilepsy. In particular there are patterns called "spike and dome" that are fairly definitive in terms of an epilepsy diagnosis. Not everyone has them, but when they show up, it's pretty a pretty clear indicator for epilepsy.

Yeah he said something about spikes, but i didn't really know what to make of it.

I should have listened closer really.

Ok, thanks for the replies guys!
 
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